Facebook adding more mobile operators to the Internet.org kitty

MUMBAI, INDIA: In a bid to attract more users to Internet.org, Facebook is targeting new telecommunications partners to enable more people to the Web.

The social media giant is eyeing 4.5 billion users on Internet.org, and is therefore offering free Internet access to all mobile operators for basic online services. For this, Facebook has announced a dedicated portal through which operators can sign up. This is a far cry from the company’s earlier strategy of working with only a select group of mobile operators.

For instance, in a recent blog, the company said, “Internet.org brings new users onto mobile networks on average over 50 percent faster after launching free basic services and more than half are paying for data and accessing the Internet within the first 30 days.”

These points show that Internet.org is not only a successful tool in helping bring people online, but it is successful in showing people the value of the Internet and helping to accelerate its adoption. In the past month people using Internet.org accessed health services more than a million times.